NCAWA AWARDS

"Recognizing and uplifting women in our industry is an important part of the mission of NCAWA."

Please join us in congratulating the following 2017 Award Recipients. They will be presented with their awards during the evening banquet at the 2017 Capital Conference. We hope you will join us celebrate with them!

NCAWA Sarah Parker Scholarship Recipients:

- Hannah McGee, Wake Forest University School of Law

- Melissa Botiglione, Campbell University School of Law

- Megan Bishop, UNC School of Law

- Katherine Bordwine, Elon University School of Law

- Hannah Wyatt, Duke University School of Law

- Jaynell White – NCCU School of Law

Outstanding Judge of the Year Award:

Is a secret this year and will be revealed at the conference.

Gwyneth B. Davis Public Service Awards:

District Court Judge Lori Christian, 10th Judicial District; and

Kate Woomer-Deters, Staff Attorney, Immigration Rights Project

Each year, NCAWA recognizes individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the legal profession in North Carolina and support NCAWA's mission of promoting the participation of women in the legal profession and advancing the rights and welfare of women under the law.

NCAWA presents one or more of the following awards each year at its Annual Conference:

Gwyneth B. Davis Public Service Award;

NCAWA Sarah Parker Scholarship;

Outstanding Judge of the Year Award;

Balanced Life Workplace Award;

For more information about these awards, or to make a nomination, please contact admin@ncawa.org.

ABOUT THE AWARDS

Gwyneth B. Davis Public Service Award

Sarah Parker Scholarships

Gwyneth B. Davis was a past president and board member of NCAWA. She died in 1988, following a three-year fight with cancer. In the time that she lived and worked in North Carolina, she served as a staff attorney with Legal Services of Northwest North Carolina in Winston-Salem, and devoted her considerable energies and talents to founding the Forsyth County Women Attorneys Association and working toward the objectives of NCAWA at both the state and local levels.

As Attorney Ellen Gerber, who was a founding member of NCAWA, described her, “Gwyn was my comrade in arms against the forces that would oppress women... The strongest image is of Gwyn the peacemaker... Gwyn always seemed the neutral party that could thread her way through the warring factions... Another one of Gwyn’s accomplishments was her work to improve the condition of women throughout North Carolina. Gwyn contributed an important effort to write and lobby for the passage of the state’s first equitable distribution law... She was unfailingly generous in her view of people... She cared deeply and had a great commitment to helping her clients. She also was dedicated to improving the lot of women in general and women attorneys...”

Each year, NCAWA presents the public service award in memory and honor of Gwyneth B. Davis, for the promotion of the participation of women attorneys in the legal profession and the rights of women under the law. Last year Suzanne Chesteriwth Legal Aid, Wake County and The Child's Advocate was honored as our public service award recipient.

To nominate a candidate to receive any of these prestigious awards at the next NCAWA Annual Conference, please send your nominations to Jane Paksoy, Vice-President of Wake Women Attorneys at janepaksoy@gmail.com.

The North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys (“NCAWA”) provides scholarships in the amount of $500.00 to deserving female students attending each of the state’s law schools. This award has been named in honor of retired Chief Justice Sarah Parker of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. The scholarships funds are raised during the silent auction portion of the Annual Conference. The better silent auction donations we receive, the more we can give towards the scholarships.

NCAWA scholarship recipients are leaders in their law schools and in their communities. They are aware of the obstacles women attorneys face and display a willingness to meet and challenge those obstacles. Additionally, NCAWA scholarship recipients best exemplify, in their approach to the study and future practice of law, the incorporation of NCAWA’s goals of assuring the effective participation of women in the justice system and in public office, promoting the rights of women under the law, and promoting and improving the administration of justice.

Outstanding Judge of the Year Award

In 1998, NCAWA created the Judicial Division to help meet the needs of the increasing number of women judges on the bench in North Carolina. This group, first chaired by Judge Linda McGee, allows women judges from across the state to get to know one another. NCAWA recognizes that because of the judicial code of ethics, it is often difficult for judges to feel comfortable joining attorney organizations that take positions on issues. Therefore, none of the positions taken by NCAWA apply to the Judicial Division unless a majority of the Judicial Division members agree.

Each spring, the Judicial Division hosts the Women Judges Forum at many of North Carolina's law schools. The Women Judges Forum is comprised of female judges from several trial and appellate levels of the North Carolina court system. The purpose of the forum is to encourage female students to consider the judiciary as a career choice. The judges, mostly from the North Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, speak candidly about the barriers they faced as they aspired to office and how they overcame them, especially in the days before many women lawyers served on the courts. The Division also presents a periodic award to the “Outstanding Judge of the Year.”